Hurricane Matthew: 'Life-threatening flash floods and mudslides' expected

A ferocious hurricane packing 145-mph windsis prompting hundreds of Guantanamo Bay employees to evacuate and threatens to wreak havoc on Haiti and Jamaica, CNN reported.

Hurricane Matthew is expected to dump torrential rainfall on Jamaica and Haiti on Sunday evening before making landfall Monday.

"This rainfall will produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the National Weather Service said Sunday. "Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion."

Many Jamaicans, however, believe they can ride out the storm, putting their trust in a higher power, despite pleas from authorities to leave the threatened coast.

"I'm not afraid, I'm not going," a woman in Port Royal said. "I know if God wants it to happen, it will happen."

This image shows a forecast track for Hurricane Matthew, with the storm's eye predicted to be somewhere within the shaded cone on the days indicated.

A direct hit on Haiti could be disastrous, with much of the country's infrastructure still weak after the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people. Haiti is also recovering from a cholera outbreak after the quake that killed another 10,000.

"Water systems are at risk as hurricane #Matthew's approaching," physician and researcher Keddy Moise tweeted. "Months of work fighting cholera could be lost."